Fender Rebuild from original parts?

[iamthewalrus]

I was watching a couple of documentaries on a freeview TV channel about guys who rebuild old WW2 tanks from either a scrapyard, or an item dredged from a river or a shack somewhere, which inspired the following question....

I was wondering if any of you guys who do rebuilds have ever rebuilt an old Fender Jazz or a Precision using as many original parts as you've been able to get your hands on? Would be interested in seeing your responses?

Mods: Feel free to move if this is in the wrong part of the forum.

Cheers,
iamthewalrus

Edited January 23, 2010 by iamthewalrus

[budget bassist]

i've certainly seen a couple on here who have done similar things, i think beedster and/or wateroftyne are the main guys to talk to about that

[Beedster]

Problem is that if you build a Fender from parts these days, unless you're

1. extremely patient
2. extremely lucky
3. extremely rich

it makes so much more sense to buy an original bass. I've seen 70 Jazz PUPs sell for £900, necks for more, bodies for £700, even bridges for well over £100. As a project, a 'best of' would be great, an early 80's (heavy) bridge, recent neck and tuners, old body, old PUPs etc, would be interesting. Let me know if I can be of any help

C

[henry norton]

[quote name='Beedster' post='722594' date='Jan 23 2010, 10:03 PM']Problem is that if you build a Fender from parts these days, unless you're

1. extremely patient
2. extremely lucky
3. extremely rich

it makes so much more sense to buy an original bass. I've seen 70 Jazz PUPs sell for £900, necks for more, bodies for £700, even bridges for well over £100. As a project, a 'best of' would be great, an early 80's (heavy) bridge, recent neck and tuners, old body, old PUPs etc, would be interesting. Let me know if I can be of any help

C[/quote]

Probably all three! Like most 'classic' gear, it usually costs more to buy something piecemeal, especially Fenders. You do see a few Gibson EB-0 / EB-3s in need of restoration or repair going relatively cheap but they were always more prone to breakage and no good if you're a committed Fender User...

[Delberthot]

My Precision comprises a 2009 MIM Fender body, 1978 Fender US Machineheads and a mid 80s Fender MIJ neck. It has a lollar pickup, shaller bridge and the usual good quality components.

The reason I did this is that i had most of the parts already. I could probably get the best part of £600-700 for the parts if I sold them separately but that kind of money would get you a second hand 2009 MIA precision so if i do ever sell it, I would probably have to take it apart again and sell the individual parts.